Pokémon Run is a game about exploring newly purchased land and interacting with the squatters who’ve taken up residence there, all the while protecting your precious pokémon from being taken by entities whose origins are as mysterious as the very beings themselves. Pokémon are fairly hard to come by and are only found in special grottos. There are other methods of obtaining pokémon though (see Features).

Even though I'm a fan of the Pokémon games, I've got to say they are painstakingly tedious, and become repetitive quite easily. The basis behind Run's inception involved trying to combat this tediousness, and make a game that was more easygoing and fun. This game is being made with Pokémon Essentials on RPGMaker XP.

Features (in depth):

Spoiler:

Over ten hours of gameplay (as of demo version 3.0) and more content coming soon.

A number of pokémon from generations I-VI have been added to the game. All pokémon from I-VI will be implemented in later versions.

Any fossil pokémon as your starter! You just have to find the fossil first. (Note: Gen VI fossils not available as of version d3.0.)

(!) A new method of battling! If you win, you gain one of the enemy’s pokémon of your choosing. If you lose, on the other hand…

(!)(REMOVED) A new method of catching pokémon! Pokéballs have been specialized per species. E.g. find a Starlyball, and you’ll be able to catch a starly.

(!)The game is not focused on tedious grinding to gain levels. There are many new ways for your pokémon to grow, all based on exploring, finding secrets, and being strategic:
-Pokémon who evolve by level now evolve using Evostones.
-Use rare items to make your pokémon shiny! Shiny pokémon grow faster than normal pokémon.
-Transfer stations, where you can send unwanted pokémon's experience to other, more wanted pokémon.

Special Coverts. Instead of trudging through tall grass to get to the next town (ugh), there are now areas solely for catching pokémon. No repels necessary!

No more “Would you like me to take your pokémon and blah blah blah BLAH BLAH” ..NO! Self-serve machines, scattered around the land, will heal your party instantly.

Customized sprites for items.

High-tier berries, designed to raise the efficacy of a berry tenfold.

No gyms, no elite 4. Your only goal is to explore and avoid baddies.
(As of demo version 3.0, gyms are present, but are not necessary to progress through the game. Mostly, they are just a means of collecting mega stones as rewards!)

EXPLORE! A semi-open world awaits you, with many, many secrets waiting to be unearthed. There are many ways to get rare pokémon and items. You just have to know where to look.

Side quests! Many more will be added.

Slightly refurbished tilesets.

AND optional PERMA-DEATH. In later versions, enabling this option will also result in various rewards.

-(!) The duo-delegate ruins do not actually allow entry into the bunker. This may limit how much you can progress, because there is a very important item in there!
-Trying to withdraw items from the PC causes a crash.
-Teddiursa says a three digit code 573 or something. IGNORE THIS, it is basically just a placeholder number.
-Gen VI pokémon don't have cry sfx yet
-There may be some bugginess with the background music, if there is any at all. That’s because Wine can’t run .MIDI files on Mac.
-There may also be door noises where there shouldn't be.
-Entering the party screen after game over causes a crash.
-Varying pokémon *forms* are currently not supported for the dungeons.

Demo version 2.0:http://www.mediafire.com/download/hhove654p2bzndn/Run.zip
Now you can explore the surrounding towns.
-Added ~3 more hours of story.
-Added Pigment+, a potion used for making pokémon shiny
-Added Transfer Stations
-Added PMD-type game modes
-Pokémon-specific pokéballs should no longer exist
-Pokémon now evolve with Evostones
-So much more...

Demo version 1.0: Url removed
This version includes 2+ hours of gameplay up until you hit the summit of the mountain. It might seem pretty easy to rack up on pokémon, but d2.0 is planned to add more routes and a whole new type of evil, that of which will make the game considerably harder.Demo version 1.1: https://www.mediafire.com/?k56kf447j4xsq8v
- Fixed crash when you return to your house after your fossil is revived.
- Fixed minor things
- Added a secret temple. Hint: You'll need boots to get to it! Another hint: You'll need to know a specific order of passageways to enter, or else you'll be going in circles.
-Added the Town of Pondicherry. It does not function as of 1.1.

I can upload a Mac version if requested, but that’s a lot of megabytes. Wine works well with this game if you want to give that a shot.

Help wanted!

My priority right now lies in creating new trainers and sprites. Art for the "game cover" would be awesome too, like the epic Doom box art, etc. (Also, Let's Plays are very much welcomed!) Message me if you'd like to get involved!

If you're not an artist, you could let me know (1) if the game is balanced in terms of battles, (2) if some of the features are stupid, like the Evostones, and (3) if anything is buggy in general. Much appreciated!

This seems like a nice idea! I really like the new concepts you've introduced. Actually, my favourite one is the Fossil starter. I'd really like to see a Pokémon game where you can't catch a Pokémon at all, but you can revive them from fossils...

However, that's another topic. I like the idea of a semi-open world. By that, what do you mean? You can go anywhere you want, but because of the "power creep", there's an optimal route? Or sometimes you have choices, and a few places are locked?

The new battle system is actually interesting, to say the least. However, I have mixed feelings about the balls. While I can understand why it is implemented, I still think it is not as good as the other features, as it has some actual backlashes.

And thanks for not using the Gym 8 and Elite 4 scheme. Thank you so much.

(By the way, you mentioned you need sound designers. Do you need music, or sound effects?)

__________________

If you like Pokémon-style games, feel free to check out my own video game project, Companions, which is a parody of monster catcher games.

1.) Do the customized pokeballs cover the whole evolution line for that Pokemon?2.) Also, I like how you added custom sprites so we can see the item before we retrieve it!

1) I haven't thought about that, but that's because I haven't gotten to the point where you can find evolved pokémon in the wild. To make things easier on myself, I will add that capability. Incidentally, some pokéball sprites will resemble the pokémon, regardless of the evolution. However, like the phanpyball for example, , donphan is only vaguely represented, but you get the point.
2) Don't you hate Rock-Smashing a bunch of rocks just to find out that the item on the other side is only an iceheal? Now you have the choice to ignore items :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benjamin Kuli

This seems like a nice idea! I really like the new concepts you've introduced. Actually, my favourite one is the Fossil starter. I'd really like to see a Pokémon game where you can't catch a Pokémon at all, but you can revive them from fossils...

However, that's another topic. I like the idea of a semi-open world. By that, what do you mean? You can go anywhere you want, but because of the "power creep", there's an optimal route? Or sometimes you have choices, and a few places are locked?

The new battle system is actually interesting, to say the least. However, I have mixed feelings about the balls. While I can understand why it is implemented, I still think it is not as good as the other features, as it has some actual backlashes.

And thanks for not using the Gym 8 and Elite 4 scheme. Thank you so much.

(By the way, you mentioned you need sound designers. Do you need music, or sound effects?)

Imagine this: A post-apocalyptic scenario in which all pokémon are extinct and you have to revive them from fossils. It'd be called Pokémon: Reanimated or Jurassic World. Yeah, Jurassic World has a nice ring to it. Anyway, by semi-open world I mean you can go to other routes, unconditionally in most cases (there's no one blocking the path saying, "You need X badges to proceed!"), though you may not find much. In other words, the story hasn't progressed to that point yet. To fix this, I might have (optional) multiple stories or side-quests that are located within these alternate routes so the player will still have something to do. And, I believe there it is possible to balance wild pokémon levels to combat the power creep, which I will look into. Otherwise, if you stumble into a special covert that has pokémon way stronger than yours, back away slowly...

Thanks for your input on the ball system. The known problems with it are: 1) There is no guarantee that you will catch the pokémon, but I made it like this on purpose to make it more exciting. 2) To some, it might seem too tiresome or limited. 3) It's a real pain designing custom sprites for the pokéballs. I may add regular pokéballs into the game that will serve as "wild cards." They may either be very hard to find or very expensive. (Also, I'll message you about sound design.)

Imagine this: A post-apocalyptic scenario in which all pokémon are extinct and you have to revive them from fossils. It'd be called Pokémon: Reanimated or Jurassic World. Yeah, Jurassic World has a nice ring to it. Anyway, by semi-open world I mean you can go to other routes, unconditionally in most cases (there's no one blocking the path saying, "You need X badges to proceed!"), though you may not find much. In other words, the story hasn't progressed to that point yet. To fix this, I might have (optional) multiple stories or side-quests that are located within these alternate routes so the player will still have something to do. And, I believe there it is possible to balance wild pokémon levels to combat the power creep, which I will look into. Otherwise, if you stumble into a special covert that has pokémon way stronger than yours, back away slowly...

Thanks for your input on the ball system. The known problems with it are: 1) There is no guarantee that you will catch the pokémon, but I made it like this on purpose to make it more exciting. 2) To some, it might seem too tiresome or limited. 3) It's a real pain designing custom sprites for the pokéballs. I may add regular pokéballs into the game that will serve as "wild cards." They may either be very hard to find or very expensive. (Also, I'll message you about sound design.)

The whole idea of a region with extinct Pokémon... it actually sounds really nice.

The semi-opened idea you described actually sounds really nice. I'm looking forward to see it as soon as it's done. Side-quests are actually a nice feature to fill the empty spaces until you are not "at that part" of the game in the main storyline.

For the ball system... I think the best feature would be to not include Special balls at all. I mean, it is much better to obtain all the Pokémon with special ways (finding them, getting them after a battle, etc.), and while regular Pokéballs could be included, it would be an actually nice twist if they were f***ing expensive.

__________________

If you like Pokémon-style games, feel free to check out my own video game project, Companions, which is a parody of monster catcher games.

I downloaded the game and have been playing through it a bit and have encountered some game breaking errors.

Firstly, if you go to the map with the entrance to the forest with the fossils and then try to enter it again from the map near your house it transports you to a map full of trees where you can't move instead of the right map.

Secondly, when you enter your house after the first battle you see a line of text then the game displays an error and crashes (I can post a screenshot of the error if you want).

Those are the two major errors however on a side note you have included a lot of things in the download that aren't needed. These include the animmakers, the editor, the errorlog, the extendtext, the fmodex, what appears to be your save file (labelled game with the rpgmaker XP logo as its icon), known point and townmapgen.

None of these are that problematic they just make the download bigger. Your big problem is including the PBS folder. By giving people the PBS folder they can change all of the trainer battles, pokemon stats and so on. If you need more information on how to package the game you should check out the essentials wiki.

Overall, this is looking promising but currently has some really big issues that prevent play.

I downloaded the game and have been playing through it a bit and have encountered some game breaking errors.

Firstly, if you go to the map with the entrance to the forest with the fossils and then try to enter it again from the map near your house it transports you to a map full of trees where you can't move instead of the right map.

Secondly, when you enter your house after the first battle you see a line of text then the game displays an error and crashes (I can post a screenshot of the error if you want).

Those are the two major errors however on a side note you have included a lot of things in the download that aren't needed. These include the animmakers, the editor, the errorlog, the extendtext, the fmodex, what appears to be your save file (labelled game with the rpgmaker XP logo as its icon), known point and townmapgen.

None of these are that problematic they just make the download bigger. Your big problem is including the PBS folder. By giving people the PBS folder they can change all of the trainer battles, pokemon stats and so on. If you need more information on how to package the game you should check out the essentials wiki.

Overall, this is looking promising but currently has some really big issues that prevent play.

I'm glad you brought this up. Otherwise, I'd have never known. I know exactly what you're talking about when you say you get stuck in a "map full of trees." I checked every transfer but this didn't happen for me, so I must've fixed it, hopefully. I also fixed the crash, and thanks for warning me about the PBS. As it is only a demo, it's sure to have some bugs, but I'm willing to fix it promptly when it prevents play. Thanks again!

I'm glad you brought this up. Otherwise, I'd have never known. I know exactly what you're talking about when you say you get stuck in a "map full of trees." I checked every transfer but this didn't happen for me, so I must've fixed it, hopefully. I also fixed the crash, and thanks for warning me about the PBS. As it is only a demo, it's sure to have some bugs, but I'm willing to fix it promptly when it prevents play. Thanks again!

Demo Version 1.1 is now Live.

Great! I can't wait to play some more. This game still looks great.

Edit: All working fine with 1.1

I was just wondering where the dad is working. Where I am is in the spoiler.

Spoiler:

I was at the top of the mountain and the random thing attacked me. I was told to go and find my dad but I can't find him. If he is in the ruins called the lightning ruins or something it has a number entry- where can I find the combination if this is so.

I was just wondering where the dad is working. Where I am is in the spoiler.

Spoiler:

I was at the top of the mountain and the random thing attacked me. I was told to go and find my dad but I can't find him. If he is in the ruins called the lightning ruins or something it has a number entry- where can I find the combination if this is so.

Anyway- I'm enjoying the game.

The dad works in an "express" museum in Pondicherry, near the combination ruins, but neither the combination ruins or the museum have been implemented yet. In the next update, you can find your dad and tell him about such and such. Sorry you can't actually find your dad yet.

New demo version 2.0 out now (that's a whole .9 higher than 1.1!!!)
-The biggest thing is there is around three more hours of intense, creepy story. The surrounding towns and routes are now able to be accessed.
-Added ruins and statues that trigger quests that imitate certain Pokémon Mystery Dungeon mechanics. Mainly, the player becomes his/her pokémon briefly and must retrieve a crystal and get back to the trainer without getting harmed.
-More ways to level up your pokémon, including
1. Pigment+ potions that alter the genetic makeup of your pokémon, making it shiny. Shiny pokémon incidentally grow 4x faster.
2. Evostones, which can be found every now and again, and are used to evolve pokémon that'd normally evolve via leveling up. This feature was meant to add more strategy to the game and speed the evolution process up, especially since fossil starters often will not evolve until around level 30.
3. Transfer Stations, rare monolithic structures that take one pokémon's exp (yes, ultimately killing it) and giving it to another. Just won a useless level 29 stunky from a battle? Don't just keep it in your storage boxes, make real use of it instead with the Transfer Stations!
-Added high-tier berries. Craft a 40hp berry from two oran berries, or craft a 20hp berry that ALSO cures paralysis from an oran and cheri berry.
-Removed the stupid type-specific pokéballs.
-Instead, raised pokéballs in price and made their whereabouts sparser. Buy pokéballs for $3200 now. It's a steal!
-Can't afford those disgustingly exorbitant pokéballs? Sell your unwanted pokémon for about $5600 now. You'll be able to afford 1.75 pokéballs after that great bargain!
-Probably less bugs.
-And more!
Keep in mind that this game is in its very experimental stages, hence all of these odd features. Don't like a feature? Tell me.

I find the game to be interesting so far. i did find an annoying bug. i went into the building on the right on the mountain i went in got the piece of plastic and stuff from the merchant. i went out and am now stuck in the door on the out side

I like the game but I am having some trouble playing the game. The bridge near the house at the beginning of the game works fine my first time over it but when I come back to it after exploring it makes either go under it or through it. When I leave the beach and go back to it I sometimes end up in some cave and can't move as the game will freeze. On the back slopes area I get frozen leaving one of the houses or stuck in a cave doorway. If I save outside the house to get around the freeze issue I then get froze in a different location like the cave I used to get to the house that I get frozen at. Thanks if they could get fixed. Also I have a questions about Pokemon levels as I get one from winning a battle and use it in battle and it won't obey me. So are the badges needed for that aspect of the Pokemon obeying you?

Version 3 is on its way, which will hopefully fix these tileset problems (as well as adding gen VI pokémon and expanding the story arc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnikev

I find the game to be interesting so far. i did find an annoying bug. i went into the building on the right on the mountain i went in got the piece of plastic and stuff from the merchant. i went out and am now stuck in the door on the out side

Yep, that would be to do with the tileset, but I wouldn't call that a bug. It's fixed now, but I'm sure there are many other random tiles that don't allow passage. I had to reimport the tileset from scratch, after all. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowkat67

How long is this overall?

You mean, like, currently? Or how long is it expected to be? Currently, I think I've said on the post that it's somewhere between 10 to 15 hours (for someone who knows what he's doing), but I can't remember. Version 3 will probably add at least a couple hours of gameplay to that.

I'm not sure how long the entire story arc will be, as it'll be updated indefinitely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatholicLeoJoe

I like the game but I am having some trouble playing the game. The bridge near the house at the beginning of the game works fine my first time over it but when I come back to it after exploring it makes either go under it or through it. When I leave the beach and go back to it I sometimes end up in some cave and can't move as the game will freeze. On the back slopes area I get frozen leaving one of the houses or stuck in a cave doorway. If I save outside the house to get around the freeze issue I then get froze in a different location like the cave I used to get to the house that I get frozen at. Thanks if they could get fixed. Also I have a questions about Pokemon levels as I get one from winning a battle and use it in battle and it won't obey me. So are the badges needed for that aspect of the Pokemon obeying you?

Thanks for the feedback! Bridges will never fail to fail, so I've no idea how to tackle that conundrum. Rest assured, I'll try, though. I will also try to fix any other tile problems and that badge problem.

New demo version 3.0 out now
-More story, more dungeons, and more baddies. There are around 10 hours (?) of gameplay, but that's for someone who knows what he's doing.
-Generation VI mechanics! Some pokémon are available, as well as mega evolution.
-Running on Essentials version 16.
-High-tier berries actually work now.
-Bridges should actually allow passage now. But my god, if they aren't glitchy.
-I can't remember.
-Probably less bugs.
-And more!
Keep in mind that this game is in its very experimental stages, hence all of these odd features. Don't like a feature? I'd love to know about it! Thanks!

Just downloaded the updated version and I am glad for the fixes but there is still one house across from the store that you get stuck in the doorway if you enter it. I want to try the other mode that you added to the game as it would fill up the Pokedex faster. I am trying to figure where to go for the gym badge though. I don't know if it is after reaching the top and then going back down to the bottom or if it is on the other side of the cave with the 3 holes in the ice. But I am having fun trying to figure it out. Sorry I gave wrong house it is the one by the exit from the underground path that has a blue sign above it's door. I saved outside this time but it is where you eventually go down out of the snow part of the mountains. Thanks and I am loving the game so far. I have 11 pieces of plastic in my bag and when I tried to turn in the 10 pieces it tells me I don't have enough and that he needs 10.

Just downloaded the updated version and I am glad for the fixes but there is still one house across from the store that you get stuck in the doorway if you enter it. I want to try the other mode that you added to the game as it would fill up the Pokedex faster. I am trying to figure where to go for the gym badge though. I don't know if it is after reaching the top and then going back down to the bottom or if it is on the other side of the cave with the 3 holes in the ice. But I am having fun trying to figure it out.

Another house? Really? Unbelievable. I'll probably upload a patch for this shortly.
The hardcore mode option is currently only available during the "character" customization part in the beginning.

Also, I tweaked pokémon obedience a bit so that all originally caught pokémon obey you regardless of their level. Pokémon you win from boogymen will obey you up to a certain level, but the cap has been set higher than before so ostensibly you should have no trouble. The first (real) gym is located west, beyond route 4, but you'll need to retrieve a crystal from a dungeon to access this spot. :)

On route 4 are you supposed to go between the mountains behind the pond in front of the 2 houses? Or is the mountain area to be accessed from a different area? I see the npc with the wingull on top of the mountain area. Also in Oast Town if you enter the gym you can't exit it without getting stuck in the doorway. The plastic works as long as you only have 10 plastic in your bag, but to finish the quest if you don't make it into the house with the smart kid and his Glameow it crashes with an error, but if you make it into the house with zombie and you take the console and try to leave you get stuck in the doorway. If you do nothing it works fine going in and out the door. I will let you know if I find more things.

You should add in health, for your trainer character. When the monsters attack you yourself are affected by this - Pokemon Centers may be the only way to revive your trainer character, but healing machines can revive Pokemon?

Possibly, trainer characters have stamina, hunger, and other things that they'll need. Is there a plot to the game? Are you just messing around with it to see what sorts of features you might like to add in for your real game? Or if you add too many new things (like what I just mentioned) would that be too much of a revamp?

I really like the concept, but I feel like its still in its early stages of development, yeah. No where near to being done. If possible, I would love to help out by pitching ideas if possible, I can't really draw, compose or develop anything but I'm more of an idea/writer person myself, and I'd love to make a game. i see this being a highly anticipated game along with Pokemon Phoenix Rising, if you take your time with it.

I liked the idea to have tools like the pickaxe for your trainer character to quip for himself to smash boulders, but what if he actually used them against the monsters themselves instead of just battling them with Pokemon? I felt like the monsters needed more depth, there needed to be a battle system for the monsters for them alone.

Maybe a secret base that you could set up for yourself and build around and grow things like special berries for your Pokemon, make Pokemon food, items to revive them with if they die, recruit people to help them get their stolen Pokemon back from the monsters, craft weapons, etc. There really doesn't need to be a gym or an Elite Four at all, this could be all there is, really, just running around crafting stuff and beating monsters and saving Pokemon.

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